Peter Sagan disqualified from 2017 Tour de France
And Roger Hammond’s tweet below has proved prophetic. The world champion Peter Sagan has been disqualified from the Tour following that collision with Mark Cavendish at the end of the stage. Here are the details:
Roger Hammond
Peter Sagan has got off a lot more leniently than the Dimension Data chief might have liked, but then the race jury may have studied frame by frame footage of the crash and decided that Sagan didn’t actually elbow Cavendish in the end.
There are all sorts of interpretations of the incident on the internet already, but what doesn’t seem to be in doubt is that Sagan was in the wrong for veering across the road in an attempt to get on a wheel he had no business taking. Whether or not he elbowed Cavendish, or indeed Cavendish would have gone down anyway without Sagan flicking out his elbow, is open to interpretation. The good news is thast Cav was able to walk away from a horrible crash, although his future participation in this Tour is in serious doubt.
Tune in tomorrow for more fall-out from today’s breath-taking climax and what promises to be another exciting day’s racing as the Tour tackles the mountains for the first time.
Causes a big crash at 1.5 to go, elbows elbows fellow competitor in the head 300 meters... can only result in one decision. #Goodbye pic.twitter.com/xeTB0llOPF
— Roger Hammond (@rog10) July 4, 2017
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Never mind scouse wit @bglendenning #VILenin springs to mind on today's #tdf17 stage @Vittel_FR pic.twitter.com/edmpuo0HQS
— (((Tim Morton))) (@TimMorton2) July 4, 2017
Peter Sagan's punishment
For playing fast and loose with his elbow, Peter Sagan has been given a 30-second penalty and demoted to 115th place on the stage (presumably last of the main finishing bunch).
A slap on the wrist for a flick of the elbow, you could say. A points deduction might have been more appropriate, as 30 seconds doesn’t amount to a hill of beans one way or the other for Sagan. That said, he will lose the points he earned for finishing second behind Arnaud Demare.
Stage four top 10
Here’s how they finished after after a thrilling climax to an otherwise fairly boring stage.
An email from Will van Wyngaarden: “Zack Gomperts-Mitchelson is talking rubbish,” he fumes. “Sagan swerved across the road to grab Demare’s wheel. Who was at fault in the situation is another matter, but there was room and Sagan closed the door and then shoved his elbow in for good measure.”
I’d have to agree with Will’s view that Sagan definitely swerved across the road to get on Demare’s wheel and wasn’t carried by’ the drift of the sprinting bunch’, as Zack contends.
Anyway, it’s all about opinions and the only one that matters is that of the race jury. Assuming they study the incident and find Sagan guilty of “shenanigans”, it seems the worst he can expect is being found guilty of dangerous riding, demotion to last place on the stage and a fine. He’ll live with that.
Some fabled Scouse wit ...
My colleague Gregg Bakowski, whose dulcet Scouse tones many of you will be familiar with from our Football Weekly podcast, has just wandered over and said: “Baz, d’ya reckon that Belgian fella who led for 200 kilometres all on his own is sitting in the team bus thinking: ‘I did all that and thanks to those two nobody’s even mentioning it now.”
It does indeed seem a long, long time ago since poor Guillaume van Keirsbulck weas playing a starring role in what was shaping up to be one of the most boring stages in Tour de France history. I suppose if nothing else, Cavendish’s accident proves that life comes at you fast and things can change in the blink of an eye.
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An email from Zack Gomperts-Mitchelson: “That was about as bad a crash as I’ve ever seen in a sprint,” he says. “I have no idea what Cav thought he was doing there; I guess thats what makes him Cav: fearless to a fault.
“No room at all, especially not at that speed. That is his tour done. Sagan’s elbow came out, I don’t think it was deliberate as in malicious, he was being pushed along the road by the drift of the sprinting bunch and must have felt the contact. He’ll probably still get pilloried for this. It’s quite possible there was just no room for Cav to go into.”
Mark Cavendish speaks
We see footage of Mark Cavendish stepping off the Dimension Data team bus with his right hand heavily bandaged and the arm to which it is attached resting in a sling. He seems very calm and says he hasn’t yet spoken to Peter Sagan, but would like to. He insists he has a very good relationship with the Slovak rider, but wants to hear an explanation for the rogue elbow that knocked him off his bike in the closing stages. He’s unhappy about it, but won’t be making any further comments until he has spoken to Sagan.
An email from Marie Meyer: “Watching in America, where the talking heads are making every excuse imaginable to say that obviously Sagan did not throw an elbow,” she says. “It was just his ‘momentum’ that caused it to fly out.”
Thanks for that, Marie. Having seen the incident again, here’s my definitive take on it. Arnaud Demare was making his winning surge for the line with Cavendish directly behind him and the gap between the pair closing.
It was Cavendish’s wheel to take, but Sagan swerved across the road to take Demare’s wheel, sensed Cavendish on his inside and flicked out an elbow to prevent him passing. Shouting in protest at Sagan taking his line, Cavendish had nowhere to go and was promptly sent crashing into the barriers at a top speed of more than 50km per hour.
Lotto-Soudal team manager Marc Sergeant speaks: The Belgian head of German sprinter Andre Greipel’s team doesn’t mince his words on the subject of Sagan’s antics either. He says Greipel was “pissed” at Sagan’s behaviour in yesterday’s intermediate sprint and was “pissed” again today at the way Sagan was veering all over the road in the closing stages of today’s sprint. Sergeant claimed not to have seen today’s closing stages very well yet, but pointedly says with a shake of his head “that’s twice in two days from Sagan”. Furthermore, he announces that Greipel, by all accounts one of the nicest blokes in the peloton, has told him that from this day on, he will no longer be friends with Peter Sagan.
Team Dimension Data sporting director Roger Hammond speaks: He looks a little fed up, to say the least as he explains that it’s premature to say that Mark Cavendish has broken his shoulder or collar-bone and that the rider is on his way to hospital to undergo x-rays. He points out that Cavendish also injured his hand and, upon being told that Sagan had gone to apologise to Cavendish, says: “If I was Peter Sagan, I would also go and apologise.”
Meanwhile at the finish line: Peter Sagan has climbed off his bike and gone straight to the Dimension Data team bus to see Mark Cavendish. He’s currently standing outside the vehicle, awaiting an audience. There’s no question he stuck out an elbow to prevent Cavendish coming up his inside. Cavendish was hurled into a roadside barrier and hit the deck with sickening force. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Trek-Segafredo’s German rider John Degenkolb rode straight over the prone Cavendish and came down himself. He’s understood to be OK.
More on the crash with 1,500 metres to go: Most of Marcel Kittel’s Quick-Step team went down and brought down several others, including race leader Geraint Thomas, leaving those lucky enough to be at the front of the bunch at the time to duke out the stage between them.
Mark Cavendish is back on his feet
But look at the state of him. If it turns out that Peter Sagan did bring him down, he’s going to be most displeased. Having just seen another replay of the incident, I would have no qualms in suggesting that Sagan deliberately knocked him into the barriers. Early, obviously unconfirmed reports suggest that after staying on the ground for a long time, Cavendish has a broken shoulder.
Mark Cavendish up and about but bearing wounds of terrifying crash into barriers at full gas pic.twitter.com/s4fcentlVT
— Matt Dickinson (@DickinsonTimes) July 4, 2017
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From Sky's Orla Chennaoui
The Sky reporter tweets ...
Sagan gave an elbow for sure. Standby for fireworks on the 4th July. But in meantime, worrying for Cavendish who seems badly injured there.
— Orla Chennaoui (@SkyOrla) July 4, 2017
Stage Four Top Five
- Arnaud Demare
- Peter Sagan
- Alexander Kristoff
- Andre Greipel
- Nacer Bouhanni
That’s a first ever Tour de France stage win for Arnaud Demare.
Let's try to pick the bones out of that one, eh?
Arnaud Demare wins the stage, but all the talk will be of two big crashes on the run-in. The first occurred on a straight section with everyone fighting for position and Geraint Thomas got caught up in it, but looked absolutely fine as he pedalled home.
Moments later, there was a horror-crash as Mark Cavendish appeared to be brought down by Peter Sagan. I’m not sure if they clipped wheels, or Sagan stuck out an elbow as he felt Cav coming up his inside, but the Manx missile was catapulted into the air and hit the barriers sickenly hard. Here’s hoping he’s OK. Stay with us and we’ll keep you posted.
Arnaud Démare wins the stage!!!
It’s carnage, with Mark Cavendish hitting the barriers hard in the closing stages. That looked hideous and he’s stayed down. Arnaud Demare from FDJ wins the stage!
Updated
Less than 2km to go: Casino Corner and the bunch is strung out as Mark Cavendish’s Dimension Data team comes off the rails. There’s a big crash!
Less than 3km to go: The field take the sharp left and a number of those who had been at the front get squeezed out of position and back into the bunch.
Less than 5km to go: On they roll, still out in the countryside with a sharp turn approaching in a little over two kilometres. A native of these parts, Bouhanni clearly knows this and has got his Cofidis team into a good position to lead into it.
6km to go: Nacer Bouhanni assembles his Cofidis team in the centre of the road and they take up the pace before moving to the left. Astana’s road lieutenant, whoever he is, is gesticulating furiously as his team is being squeezed out of position. It’s all very exciting ... if you’re into this sort of thing.
9km to go: Less than 10 kilometres to and they’re packed sardine can-tight at the front of the peloton, where Mark Cavendish’s Dimension Data team look well positioned with everyone in the right order. There’s no sign of Marcel Kittel’s Quick-Step team near the front. Is the German going to paddle his own canoe and surf in on the coat-tails of other riders? Does Dan Martin fancy a cheeky solo effort off the front?
13km to go: Assorted riders of Katusha, FDJ, Dimension Data, Direct Energie, Lotto Soudal, Bora, Movistar and Cofidis are all visible near the front of the bunch as they try to control the pace of the peloton before starting to get their ducks in a row for their lead-out trains.
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16km to go: Looking into the camera on the motorbike in front of him, Guillaume van Keirsbulck performs a cut-throat gesture with his hand, blows out his cheeks, hoists the white flag and is swallowed up by the bunch. A few riders give him congratulatory pats on the back as he takes up position at the arriere de peloton and takes a well-earned breather.
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19km to go: The gap is down to 27sec and if Guillaume van Keirsbulck looks over his shoulder he’ll be able to see the peloton approaching. What’s his over-riding emotion, I wonder? Disappointment? Relief? Whatever he’s feeling after 190 kilometres out on his own, he deserves every credit for a fine effort and a brave day’s work.
22km to go: The first of those three right-angle bends to which Fothers alluded, Casino Corner, is almost certainly the most dangerous. On Eurosport, Sean Kelly has explained that there’s a steep descent which means the bunch will arrive at it doing 70kph. The Eurosport commentary team have also voiced their “concerns” (translation: hope) that in his determination to win on his home turf, Nacer Bouhanni, a man known for his kamikaze behaviour in bunch finishes, could cause all sorts of mayhem and chaos. The gap between Guillaume van Keirsbulck and the bunch currently stands at exactly 60 seconds.
Big news: Not only has he finished his lunch, he has been out on a recon mission. Good work Fothers, you’ve saved me a job. Here’s hoping for another victory for a certain towering German, so those “Kittel wins in Vittel” headlines can write themselves. To the best of my knowledge, the final kilometre of today’s stage is gun-barrel straight to the line.
Final 3k in Vittel includes a very rapid descent and three right-angle bends. All very exciting no doubt.
— William Fotheringham (@willfoth) July 4, 2017
The Guardian’s cycling correspondent has finished his lunch.
Fair play Van Keirsbulck, bit of a long-winded way to pick up a couple of primes but he's hung in rather well. I think he'll last 15k more
— William Fotheringham (@willfoth) July 4, 2017
36km to go: Our boy Guillaume is first over Category 4 Col des Trois Fontaines and takes the sole King of the Mountains point available for today and the €200 that goes with it. He’s racked up about €1,000 in prize money so far today, which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. That said, he’ll have to share it with his team mates at the end of the Tour, which makes it hardly worth the bother.
39km to go: With over 168km of solo cycling behind him, Guillaume van Keirsbulck awaits the inevitable and must surely be hoping the peloton will put him out of his misery sooner rather than later, so he can sit up and take it easy. The gap stands at 1min 47sec and it’ll be interesting to see how our leader gets on tomorrow when they Tour hits the mountains, when every single one of his rivals is comparatively well rested.
Intermediate sprint result
- 1. Kurt Van Keirsbulck 20 points
- 2. Arnaud Démare 17
- 3. Peter Sagan 15
- 4. André Greipel,13
- 5. Marcel Kittel 11
- 6. Michael Matthews 10
- 7. Ben Swift 9
- 8. Maciej Bodnar 8
- 9. Mark Cavendish 7
- 10. Sonny Colbrelli 6
- 11. Rüdiger Selig 5
- 12. Jack Bauer 4
- 13. Thomas De Gendt 3
- 14. Matteo Trentin 2
- 15. Ramon Sinkeldam 1
47km to go: Arnaud Démare, who many fancy to win this stage, is the first of the bunch to cross the line at the intermediate sprint, with Andre Greipel, Marcel Kittel and Peter Sagan also in the shake-up.
49km to go: Stage leader Guillaume van Keirsbulck is first past the post for the intermediate sprint, with the peloton just under three minutes behind him. It’ll be interesting to see who in the peloton decides to go for it. Marcel Kittel and Mark Cavendish are currently at the front of the bunch.
54km to go: The gap is down to 3min 24sec as Guillaume passes through a small one-street town in which no more than 40 or 50 people are lining the streets in dribs and drabs. Two of them comprise a two-man band that’s playing the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, and our stage leader removes one of his bottles from its cage and flicks it in the direction of a little girl and her mum who are cheering him along from the side of the road. I can’t stress enough that this was not an act of insane aggression from a man who has just spent 155 kilometres cycling on his own in extreme heat - it’s intended as a souvenir for the child.
62km to go: The gap is down to 4min 09sec and Guillaume van Keirsbulck has 12 kilometres or so to go before the intermediate sprint at Goveller. Today’s hillock, the Col des Trois Fontaines, with one King of the Mountains point available, is a further 13 kilometres up the road.
Nacer Bouhanni: I mentioned earlier that today’s stage finishes near the Cofidis sprinter’s locale and he’ll obviously be trying hard to win it. It’s no secret that the Frenchman is unpopular in the peloton, but on Eurosport, the commentary team have been saying he’s not even liked by his own team-mates. It seems Monsieur Bouhanni is always quick to point the finger of blame at team-mates on the regular occasions that sprints don’t go his way, but very slow to thank them on the infrequent occasions that they do. He’s still looking for his first Tour de France stage win and it will be a massive surprise if he breaks his duck today.
Ion Izaguirre update: Having crashed out in the opening time trial and fractured two vertebrae in his lower back, the Bahrain-Merida team leader had an operation in Dusseldorf last night. He’s expected to spend another four days in hospital in the German city and the suggestion from his team is that he won’t see him back on a bike this year. We wish him well.
Oops! “Oh Barry, you’ve had an absolute shocker there,” writes Joseph Gilbody. “It’s the other American Cannondale Drapac rider, Nate Brown in polka-dots today! Phinney lost it yesterday to his team mate.” And it’s not like I said exactly that at the beginning of this report, is it?
79km to go: The gap is getting smaller and smaller – down to 4min 25sec now – with the peloton presumably mindful of the imminent intermediate sprint in Goviller at the 158km mark. Marcel Kittel is currently wearing the green jersey, but it’d be a brave man or woman who’d bet against Peter Sagan finishing the race without it on his shoulders for the sixth consecutive year. THere is also a solitary King of the Mountains point available for whoever crosses the pertinent speed-bump that is the Col des Trois Fontaines first. Cannondale Drapac rider
Taylor Phinney
Nate Brown wears the polka-dot jersey today and will hold on to it until tomorrow, when he’ll almost certainly lose it.
Updated
84km to go: The gap is down to just over five minutes as FDJ rider Arthur Vichot tows the peloton along at an increasingly strong lick. Depending on his mood after nearly 123 kilometres riding alone, Guillaume van Keirsulck continues to enjoy or endure his 15 minutes of fame, earning plenty of always welcome publicity for his Wanty- Groupe Gobert team.
The riders pass through the feed zone: So what better time to present this old favourite from the Global Cycling Network, for anyone who wants to know what’s in those musettes full of treats that the riders get handed. Enjoy and I’ll be back in 5min 23sec.
A brilliant read here from Rob Smyth, for any cricket fans looking for something to help pass the time until we get to the business end of this stage.
100km to go: With the gap at 6min 23sec, Guillaume is being chased by a peloton led by Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Julien Vermote (Quick-Step Floors) and Team Sky. Passing the feed station at the tete-de-la-course, the stage leader ignores the feed-bag held out by his team soigneur and Eurosport co-comms man Sean Kelly explains why.
“He has his own service car right behind him,” explains Kelly, who goes on to say that instead of taking the musette and having to waste time emptying everything into his pockets and bottle cages, he can just summon the car and take one thing at a time: a ‘sticky’ bottle, a ‘sticky’ gel, another ‘sticky’ bottle, a ‘sticky’ can of coke etc, etc and so on. By sticky, of course, Kelly means one of those laboured handovers from car passenger to rider, where the object changing hands appears to “stick” to each party’s hand, allowing the cyclist to take a “completely accidental” tow from the car and get a bit of minor respite.
@bglendenning Boring area of France this too isn't it? Bit of windy coastline or some cobbles, maybe even a grand city be a treat right now
— Mark (@MDB3017) July 4, 2017
110km to go: Guillaume van Keirsbulck continues to ponder the futility of his own existence as the peloton close the gap to 6min 43sec. He won’t mind the fact that his lead has been almost halved, as it will help douse any faint flicker of misplaced hope he might have entertained of actually winning this stage. It is, after all, the hope that kills you.
How the other live dept: And cheers to you too! Far be it from me to steer you away from my wonderful coverage, but is that not the Tour on the TV in the background?
Thoroughly enjoying @bglendenning MBM for @guardian_sport while waiting to fly from Rome to Paris pic.twitter.com/0D2K9oZ5tZ
— Rob Fry (@DelVanFrysy) July 4, 2017
An email from Michael Brunskill, from the Football Supporters’ Federation. “If you’re looking for similar scenarios to today’s lone break I remember watching as a kid back in the early 90s and Thierry Marie broke away and built up a 22 minute lead at one point,” says Michael, whose interest in cycling has come as a revelation to me.
“He hung on to win the stage by a couple of minutes and took the yellow jersey, although he was from a bigger team at the time so you wonder if a few favours were pulled in as there wasn’t much of a chase. I remember Channel 4 had a feature the next day and it showed the peloton tootling along at 25km/h with Marie’s team blocking the entire road. A quick Google tells me it was 1991 and Marie’s solo break lasted for 145.4 miles through Normandy, the second longest in history.”
Michael adds: “There’s footage here of Marie’s break, about 26mins in, riding for Castorama (who had one of the worst kits in sports history with fake dungarees).”
116km to go: HUGE EXCITEMENT! Guillaume’s team car pulls up alongside him again and his sporting director hands him a bidon of refreshing, thirst-quenching water. The gap is down to 7min 11sec.
124km to go: Hands clasped, possibly in silent prayer, out front of the handlebars on which his forearms are resting, Guillaume continues his lone journey as his gap is whittled down to 8min 21sec. Back in the bunch, race leader Geraint Thomas is snacking on something he just pulled from his jersey pocket. A leg of roast chicken, maybe ... or some fish-fingers smothered in hot melted cheddar cheese. It’s difficult to tell.
John Flannery writes from Dublin: “Interesting to read that about van Keirsbulck being a grand-son of Benoni Beheyt,” he says. “Twenty-five years after Beheyt shocked everyone in the 1963 Worlds, the same Belgian locale of Ronse (Renaix) was the scene of another upset when Claude Criquielion and Steve Bauer tangled within metres to the finish of the 1988 race. All Maurizo Fondriest had to do was more or less freewheel over the line to become World Champion. I was at the race and all the Belgium supporters around us couldn’t believe what happened.”
@bglendenning worth remembering one previous huge solo breakaway- from one B Wiggins. reeled in @9k to go after 199 https://t.co/KqXXURis0U
— Tom Robbins (@TRtravels) July 4, 2017
131km to go: Guillaume’s team car pulls upsides him and he and his Sporting Director have a chat about something or other. Meanwhile at the stage finish, if my experiences are anything to go by, the journalists following this year’s Tour are in an area outside the media centre (generally a giant marquee or local school gym), toasting Guillaume’s good health for making their day so much easier and stuffing their faces at the lunch buffet, which generally boasts no end of local delicacies. With today’s stage ending in Vittel, the local delicacy is probably not as potent as those who don’t have to drive later on might have been hoping for.
Updated
134km to go: Guillaume van Keirsbulck continues to pedal along on his own at 48km per hour, his forearms resting on his handlebars, his hangs hanging over the front. He leads the peloton by 10min 34sec and what passes for the chase is now being led by Quick Step’s Julien Vermote.
139km to go: Guillaume’s lead is getting smaller and seems to have peaked at just under 13min. He’s now 11min 39sec ahead of the posse, which is being towed along by Lotto-Soudal rouler Thomas De Gendt.
An email from Jim Bennett: “In response to James’ earlier question [about lone breakaways winning flat stages], Tony Martin nearly managed it in the Vuelta in 2016,” says Jim. “He went from the gun and was only caught by the peloton 20 metres from the finish. Martin has a pedigree for that kind of thing given his time trial prowess. Not sure Guillaume is quite in the same league ... good on him though.”
“I didn’t win, but it was special all the same,” said Martin after that stage. “I realised that after finishing, when everybody wanted to talk to me. Although my feelings are bittersweet, I felt like a winner who was only lacking just a little bit of luck.”
With thanks to the official Tour de France website: “Guillaume van Keirsbulck is the grand-son of Benoni Beheyt, the 1963 world champion who rode for himself instead of leading out his leader Rik van Looy and won stage 22 in the 1964 Tour de France in Versailles but had a short career as he quit at the age of 26,” they inform us.
“Guillaume’s father Kurt was a pro cyclist from 1988 to 1991. He did a long breakaway in the 1990 Paris-Roubaix riding for Belgian kermesse’s team Isoglass-Garden Woods. He only got to know in the morning that he’d take part in the race as a replacement for his team-mate Martin Hendrickx who fell ill.
“Approaching the last hour of racing, he was still at the front of the race with Frenchman Martial Gayant and eventual winner Eddy Planckaert. His exploit got him a start with Stephen Roche’s team Tonton Tapis in 1991 but he put an end to his career at the end of that year.”
Easy ride today🚴🏽 @TeamWantyGobert #trainingcamp pic.twitter.com/lTxM14GSJA
— Van Keirsbulck (@007_GVK) January 16, 2017
An email from Ryan Loonan: “Hope you’re enjoying yourself watching Guillaume on his presumably ill-fated attempt to win the stage,” he says. “I wonder if yourself or any of your readers can answer my question: is there any sort of protocol for organising a breakaway amongst the teams? Do riders talk to each other beforehand, or are there just a handful that have it in their heads that they’d like to join a breakaway that day, and then join the first foolhardy man to make the attack? Enjoy the rest of your day, and FYI, I’m backing Guillaume to make it to 3.5km before he gets caught.”
To the best of my knowledge Ryan, but I’ll happily stand corrected if anyone knows better, both scenarios occur with regular frequency. Various riders will be ordered to particpate in breakaways at the start of certain stages, some conspire to do so together and others just go if they fancy it and their sporting director doesn’t mind. Guillaume’s sporting director said he’d assumed a couple of other riders would go with his man, but the inference seemed to be that nothing had been arranged beforehand.
An email from Thom Burgess: “On a scale of 1 to 10 how much chance do you reckon Guillaume has of beating Jose-Luis Viejo’s 22min 50sec lead over the peloton achieved in 1976?” he asks.
Well Thom, at the moment it’s 12min 59sec and there’s 153 kilometres to go. I’d say there’s a massive chance of him breaking that record.
@bglendenning perhaps Guillaume cd be given special permission 2have his phone today?https://t.co/YUIKySevUNhttps://t.co/qEXtoE4sxq
— Mark (@Ciclismark) July 4, 2017
This wouldn't be Luca Paolini texting from his iPhone in today's stage, would it - at about 60-kph..! http://t.co/Spbcz5ZniL
— Graham Watson (@grahamwatson10) July 12, 2014
156.8km to go: Guillaume gets out of the saddle for a stretch as ITV get his team director Steven De Neef on the phone from the team car for a chat. Tragically, the line is very poor but he has this to say of his rider: “He’s feeling alright,” says De Neef. “He’ll go as far as he can, that’s not a problem. It’s just a problem that the stage is so long but he’ll just continue for as long as he can.”
Updated
160km to go: Guillaume continues to endure his long dark tea-time of the soul, with the gap out to 12min 27sec.
“A little optimistic, perhaps, but at how far does the gap have to get for a rider in this situation to get a little optimistic, to have a hope,” asks James Austin. “Twenty mins? Thirty mins? Ten mins with 50k to go? I imagine he sits there, legs churning, with complex mathematical equations going through his head.” James goes on to ask if a rider has ever broken like this on a flat stage and won.
164km to go: The helicopter cameras give us a splendid panoramic view of Le Chateau de Wendel Joeuf as Guillaume opens a gap of 11min 37sec over a peloton that may well be discussing the binning off of today’s feed station in favour of stopping somewhere nice for a leisurely wine-fuelled lunch. I have no idea whether or not race rules preclude such a group decision, but they could hardly disqualify 194 riders if everyone did it. That would put Guillaume in yellow and all he’d have to do to become the most unlikely winner in Tour history is negotiate the remaining 17 stages on his own.
172.6km to go: Guillaume continues to plough his lonely furrow, while Sky tow the peloton along with gap heading towards 10 minutes. One can’t help but wonder what thoughts are going through Guillaume’s mind. Is he enjoying himself? Is this the stuff of nightmares for him? At ewhat point will he start entertaining foolhardy stage-winning notions of the “You know what? I can do this!” variety?
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@bglendenning Van Keirsbulck from Roeselare. As was Jean-Pierre Monseré, World Champion 1971, sadly killed in a collision with a car...
— Just Ride the Bike (@justridethebike) July 4, 2017
By a tragic coincidence, according to Wikipedia, Monsere’s son was also killed at the age of seven, after being hit by a car while riding a bicycle he had been given as a present.
An email from Guy Hornsby: “Bless old Guillaume, there’s something faintly gallant about an attack like this today,” he says. “Looking at his Palmares he’s pretty much been racing all at home until recently, and there’s something joyous about a Tour debutant going out full beans on an utterly doomed tilt at glory. Or course, you cynics will say, this is as much about getting his sponsors’ names in the TV coverage, and that’s a big part, especially for a Pro Conti team like Wanty-Groupe Gobert, but I’ll take it. Everyone deserves their day in the sun. My money’s on being scooped up around 5km from the end.”
There he is! Our new BFF Guillaume! Go on, follow him on Twitter so he gets a nice surprise when he gets back to the team bus after this stage and switches his phone on. He has just over 13,000 followers at the moment - let’s see how high we can get that total by close of play in today’s stage.
TEAM PRESENTATION @LeTour 🇫🇷🚴🏽 #dusseldorf #letour pic.twitter.com/YyzOfwzhqZ
— Van Keirsbulck (@007_GVK) June 29, 2017
Let’s go with Guillaume: Look, the poor fella’s out on his own and will be for the next five hours, so let’s dispense with the formalities and just call him Guillaume. Anyway, he’s opened a lead of 8min 22sec over an indifferent peloton, which (a) makes him virtual leader of this year’s Tour de France and (b) quite literally means he could stop at a roadside cafe, go inside and knock back a quick beer, pay his tab, leave, get back on his bike and still be leading the peloton in this stage.
So who is Guillaume van Keirsbulck?
Today’s lone leader is a Belgian 26-year-old who was born on Valentine’s Day and rides for Wanty–Groupe Gobert. According to reader Johnny Long on Twitter, he also has a tattoo which means “Guillaume is greater than the highs and lows” on his forearm, which you can see here.
@bglendenning GvK has a tattoo which means 'Guillaume is greater than the highs and lows', also his birthday is on Valentine's Day. https://t.co/IWgtW0qEwe
— Jonny Long (@iamjonnylong) July 4, 2017
Here he is ;-) pic.twitter.com/bDVbKCxZGz
— Van Keirsbulck (@007_GVK) November 6, 2015
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So here's what happened ...
Right from the gun, Guillaume van Keirsbulck attacked and nobody - absolutely nobody - attempted to go with him. In the peloton, there were bemused looks among various riders as they wondered why nobody else was attacking and when Van Keirsbulk realised he was on his own, he began repeatedly looking over his shoulder in a bit of a panic as it began to dawn on him that he might have to ride up to 200 kilometres on his own. On Twitter, somebody has already suggested he should fake a mechanical in orderr to get back in the bunch, while my own theory is that this might be one big elaborate practical joke being played on the Belgian by the rest of the peloton.
Felt like this last year- will it be the same again 😂 #tdf #TourdeFrance @bglendenning pic.twitter.com/wcLCfYad42
— Graeme Mason (@Wizwords) July 4, 2017
Speaking to ITV before racing began: Mark Cavendish said that everyone is already very tired because yesterday’s stage was deceptively difficult. “People say flat stages are pretty boring, but it was really tough yesterday,” he said, pointing out that a fast pace into a headwind meant many of the sprinters were just “struggling to hang on” in the peloton. Cavendish predicted that the bunch would probably take it easy today, but said he didn’t fancy any brealkaway’s chances of hanging on to win, as they did the last time a stage finished in Vittel in 2009.
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Guillaume van Keirsbulck opens a lead of well over two minutes on a peloton that couldn’t be more content to let him go, so they can meander along at a leisurely pace and rest their already weary bones and muscles ahead of the first assault on the mountains tomorrow. Unless some other cyclist is ordered to jump across and try to bridge the gap to Guillaume van Keirsbulck, he’s going to have a very long and lonely day out on his own before inevitably being reeled in ahead of the big sprint finish.
They're racing ...
Race director Christian Prudhomme sticks his head out of the sun-roof of his red car, waves his white flag to signal the start of racing and immediately, Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Wanty) attacks. Much to his own and everyone else’s amazement, nobody else goes with him.
With 205 kilometres to go, this could be a very, very, very long day for him, for me and for you. Get those emails and tweets in folks! I’ll find a prize in the Guardian Sport book cupboard for whoever sends in the most entertaining cycling anecdote or Guillaume van Keirsbulck “fact”.
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The stage has begun
The riders have begun to roll out of Mondorf-les-Bains in procession behind the race organiser’s official car. They’ll pedal sedately for a while before he waves the flag to signal the start of racing.
A big day for bad boy Bouhanni ...
Having missed last year’s Tour after injuring his hand in an altercation at his team hotel, some might say Cofidis rider Nacer Bouhanni has done well to get even this far a year later. The 26-year-old sprinter has yet to win a stage of Le Tour, but will hoping to get his ducks in a row for a big performance today, as he hails from Epinal in the Vosges province that Vittel is also part of.
Three withdrawals so far: After three stages, two of them in decidedly inclement weather, the field remains 195-strong with just three riders having crashed out so far. Movistar rider Alejandre Valverde was the high profile casualty in the opening time trial, in which Bahrain-Meridia’s Ion Izaguirre also came a cropper. Orica-Scott’s Luke Durbridge injured ankle ligaments during the opening time trial and was forced to abandon early in stage two when soldiering on proved beyond him. “When I was out there I just couldn’t get out of the saddle. I was virtually pedalling on one leg,” Durbridge told the Herald Sun. “It’s probably the hardest bike race in the world to pull out of. I’m very upset to not be able to support the team and I just love the Tour de France and love working with this team.”
Current jersey wearers ...
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Yellow: Geraint Thomas (Sky)
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Green: Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors)
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Polka-dot: Nathan Brown (Cannondale Drapac)
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White: Pierre-Roger Latour (AG2R La Mondiale)
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Team: Sky
General Classification after stage three
Stage four: Mondorf-les-Bains – Vittel (207.5km)
Welcome to our rolling coverage of today’s fourth stage which begins in the Luxembourg town of Mondorf-les-Bains to Vittel, the home of the official mineral water of Le Tour, which flows freely in northeastern France. It’s likely to be a stage for the sprinters, according to our man in the media tent, William Fotheringham. Here’s what he wrote in our stage-by-stage guide to this year’s race.
“French flat”: the kind of rolling roads that do not look tough but where fatigue builds over the days, particularly when you have a run of stages over 200km. Expect to see the usual first-week flat stage plot unfold: early break, late capture, hectic bunch sprint finish with French sprinters like Arnaud Démare and Nacer Bouhanni in the mix.
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